The Thomas Telegram

Spring is quickly coming to a close and SUMMER will be here before you know it. Ben has already finished a fantastic year of preschool and Katie has only about 3 weeks of school left in second grade. Our year on campus at George Mason was a continual surprise. We saw many students come to Christ and many more make life changing decisions to commit themselves fully to Him.

The other day I was talking about the value of the college years to a great guy that I randomly met at our local Wegmans. (Great place for groceries, a coffee shop etc…) He has a daughter who is graduating from high school and heading off to a school in southern Virginia. It reminded me of how crucial and formative that time in life really is. His daughter will be on her own for more than likely, the first time in her life. She will now need to decide “Will I live the way that my parents raised me or not?” This girl had the privilege of being raised in what sounds like a fantastic Christian home. As scary as the freshman year might be for lots of parents, it is so good for freshmen.

The great thing about striking out on your own as many freshmen do, is that now you get to make the decision to either live out your faith or not. You either surround yourself with people that want to help you walk with Jesus or you don’t. For many students this is the time when they find out what they really believe without any parental arm twisting. No one gets them out of bed on Sunday to go to church. No one is nudging them to go to youth group. They only go if they want to go.

I like to say that students in college have the opportunity to make their faith their own. A great example of this is a student named Brooks who has been involved with our ministry over this past year. Brooks came to GMU having already been a Christian. His parents raised him in a Christian home but he was really looking forward to the freedom that college had to offer him. Brooks had every intention of making the most out of the party scene at GMU. God had other plans.
Brooks showed up to one of our weekly meetings and immediately connected with some of the men in our movement.

Week after week he was challenged to walk with Jesus and give over his whole life to God. About midway through the fall semester Brooks would describe himself as a radically changed person. The gospel made a huge difference in his life so much that this summer Brooks is on a summer mission project with Campus Crusade in Snowridge, Colorado.

At Snowridge, college students from all over the country come to work at a youth camp in the Rocky Mountains. The college students get the opportunity to minister to inner city Denver kids and be discipled themselves by CCC staff. Snowridge is one of more than 100 different summer project opportunities that students could take advantage of .

This summer we have 18 students going on summer projects to many different locations. Please pray for Brooks and our other students as God is working in and through them this summer!!!
Serving Jesus Together with you,

Dave, Debbi, Katie, Ben & Rachel